Amal Therapeutics, a Switzerland-based cancer-focused biotechnology spinout from University of Geneva, yesterday agreed to an acquisition worth up to €325m ($365m) by one of its existing investors, pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim.
Boehringer Ingelheim will make an upfront payment of undisclosed size, with the remainder due once contingent clinical, developmental and regulatory milestones are hit. A total of $112m will be paid out if treatments reach certain commercial milestones.
Founded in 2012, Amal Therapeutics is working on peptide-based therapeutic vaccines using a technology platform called Kisima. The spinout’s lead asset, ATP128, is aimed at stage 4 colorectal cancer.
The spinout previously inked a collaboration agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim to enter ATP128 into a phase 1b clinical trial that will evaluate the candidate in combination with one of the corporate’s compounds, BI754091.
Boehringer Ingelheim plans on developing additional therapies by combining its own assets with Kisima’s capabilities.
Amal completed a two-tranche $32.7m series B round in November 2018 co-led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), the corporate’s strategic investment division, and Helsinn Investment Fund, the corporate venturing unit of pharmaceutical firm Helsinn.
BioMedPartners co-led the round, which additionally featured public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), VI Partners and Schroder Adveq.
BIVF previously led a $3.1m series A round in 2016, with commitments from HTGF, VI Partners and German state-owned development bank KfW. BIVF and HTGF had already supplied an undisclosed amount of seed capital in 2014.
Madiha Derouazi, founder and chief executive of Amal Therapeutics, said: “I am extremely proud of the hard work of Amal’s entire team, which is validated by this acquisition, and very excited to further develop the Kisima technology platform within Boehringer Ingelheim.
“Our new relationship with Boehringer Ingelheim will enable us to realize the full potential of our Kisima platform to fight solid cancers while preserving Amal’s approach to biotechnology research and our scientific and academic networks.
“Moreover, sharing resources and capabilities in clinical development will greatly help us to move ATP128 and other assets forward.”
